


Being Wayne

by AllumetteRouge (RedRaidingHood)



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics)
Genre: Family Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-27
Updated: 2017-02-27
Packaged: 2018-09-27 08:11:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9984557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedRaidingHood/pseuds/AllumetteRouge
Summary: After Damian acts strangely at a party, Tim confronts him.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was a prompt from a nice anon on tumblr: "Tim Drake being a parent/older brother."

Tim slammed the door behind him, ignoring how the action made Damian jerk upright on the couch.

“What the fuck,” he hissed, his voice tinged with anger. Grabbing Damian’s collar, he picked the kid up. “What the actual fricking fuck, Damian? Why do you let them talk to you like that!”

Cold logic stared back at him from those eyes that were nothing like Bruce’s. “It’s better like this.” 

Tim fell silent, watching the brat. His jaw went slack, finally taking in the kid’s whole posture. Damian was avoiding his eyes, letting his arms hang loosely at his sides and his jaw worked as if he was biting back all the words that wanted to spill from his mouth.

“You’re Robin,” Tim said lowly, his voice steadily rising. “You’re Bruce’s son, you’ve been trained by the freaking League of Assassins–”

– “Don’t you think I know that!” Damian screamed, finally making eye contact and unable to hold the tears back.

Tim ignored them stubbornly, not letting himself get interrupted. “You’re Damian Wayne, goddammit!”

“Let me go!”

Gritting his teeth, Tim pushed the kid back, loosening his grip enough for Damian to fall into the cushions. “What the fuck. What the everloving fuck.”

With the back of his hand, Damian wiped his face. The kid still hated showing when something affected him badly - especially in front of Tim. How did Dick do it? How could anyone just watch the kid nod along to those bastards outside, sipping their thousand-dollar champagne that tasted worse than Jason’s cheap dollar-store beer? 

Tim sat down gracelessly. He felt like punching the kid on the arm, so he did.

Damian hissed, jerking back. “What was that for?”

“Just felt like it,” Tim replied. He had calmed down now. Retracing the steps that had brought them into the library while the party downstairs was still in full swing. He should be down there, making sure Ace Chemicals’ representatives felt welcome. Those bastards. 

“Tell me.”

“What?”

They stared straight ahead, mulishly keeping their distance. Classical music resonated from the floor; the party right under their feet. 

Tim sighed, kicking off his shoes and pulling his legs up on the cushions. He leaned his head on his knees, finally looking at the brat. “Why didn’t you tear them a new one? I’ve seen you argue with stockholders, trying to fire a VP and delaying an annual meeting for three hours just to look for Titus.”

“He was hiding under the sink.”

“I know. You weren’t even invited to that meeting.”

“I know.”

“So why?”

Damian crossed his arms, giving Tim an angry grunt in response. 

“You felt important enough to delay people who had nothing to do with you but you let that asshole belittle you just now?”

“It’s important.” Damian sighed, wrapping his arms around himself before clearing his throat and adding, “It’s important to you.”

Tim blinked. “Wait,” he said. “What you’re saying is… You held back because… _because of me?”_ Tim didn’t remember his voice ever sounding this shrill after his voice had broken.

Damian shrugged, his head dropping between his shoulders. He seemed so small; smaller than he’d ever been and that was just wrong. The brat wasn’t like that, he didn’t take shit and especially not for Tim. They didn’t work like that.

“Yeah, no.” Tim pushed his face between his knees, taking a deep breath. What the fuck. Damian wasn’t meant to be nice. It took a moment for Tim to compose himself, to swallow the lump in his throat and wrap his mind around the idea of Damian actually caring. For him. 

“That’s bullshit.” Leaning sideways, Tim kicked the kid’s leg. “Nothing’s that important. Get it?”

“There’s a million dollar contract linked to your project,” Damian snorted, watching him from the corner of his eyes.

“Yeah, sure. But it’s not like they can just buy everything. They’ve been _rude_.”

“That’s just stupid.”

“You’re stupid.” Unable to suppress the grin on his face, Tim stood, loosening the tie around his neck. “Do you want a written apology? I think I want a written apology.”

Damian’s eyes narrowed. “You _are_ stupid.”

“And I’m not going to do business with a representative who calls my brother an annoying, clueless brat. That’s my prerogative.”

The kid had had years of training, so his smile was subtle. Suppressed. But his eyes blinked harder than they should have, their corners crinkling slightly. “You’re going to cost us millions of dollars, Drake.”

“You’re worth it.”

This time, Damian couldn’t stop himself, barking out a genuine laugh. “You’re crazy.”

Grinning, Tim stepped back to the door, not bothering to put on his shoes. “And your net worth alone can make up for whatever we’ll lose.”

“You’re an ass.”

For a moment, they laughed together, unable to keep it up, though. It felt strange, unnormal between them - but not bad. 

Tim bit his lip, turning the knob and calculating how rude he could be to his business partners without causing too big a scandal. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

“Thank you.” Damian watched him; watched his every movement like he waited for a sign that this had been okay or if Tim would ridicule him for showing weakness.

Bowing his head, Tim avoided that heavy stare. He opened the door, letting the music fill the library and the silence between them. They didn’t work that way. Not usually. 

Tim rubbed his toes against his ankle, thinking of what to say to that. To the whole thing, to Damian’s… whatever this was. 

Straightening his spine, he settled on the right words and shrugged. “You’re my brother,” he said, convinced that, yeah, maybe after all those years… they really were brothers.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading this, I hope you liked it! <3  
> Visit me on [tumblr](http://allumetterouge.tumblr.com)!


End file.
